Recent tests

[Jo-Anne]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't seen any new posts for a while, hope all is well.

I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy on Thursday, the results were
normal, consistenant with IBS, so that means that I now have IBS,
fructose mal & lactose intol, I'm still waiting for the small bowel
biopsies and enzyme results. But the good news is that there was no
bowel cancer/crohans disease or celiac found which is what the doctor
and I were concerned about. I have a family history of bowel cancer.

Chloe had her fructose test yesterday and it seemed to go very well,
may be she will test negative :) but we will have to wait until the
weekend to find out.

Kind regards,

Jo-Anne

[Steph]

Hi Joanne

Great to hear that cancer and chrons have been ruled out. Hopefully
some of the test results with give you a clear indication of the cause
of the IBS. Also grreat the Choloe did well on her fructose test,
definitely a good sign and hopefully she comes back negative ... even
if it were positive given how she did on the test it would likely mean
she has a very minor intolerance.

Not much new around here ... same ups and downs. Our great and
wonderful Matthew is no longer so great and wonderful ... back to his
unhappy self much to our disappointment. It started with a cold and
he has never cheered up since. I may take him in just to check if his
ears are infected since we had lots of fun with that last year. He
doesn't get the full fledged out ear infections but has more minor
ones and we never know whether it's the issue or not. I hate given
antibiotics if unnecessary, especially when last year they didn't
help. We were told if more infection that we'll have to have tubes
put in. He went through the summer without infections so we knwo
that's not the reason for his unhappiness ... but yet he was so happy
after we changed his formula that now we will be confused again
whether or not it's his ears or something else ... always something!!
At first he was still eating okay so we weren't too concerned and
figured he'd come around after a bit ... but now his eating is
declining again also ... not as bad as before (which was nothing) but
getting more challenging to get something in him. Considering he was
eating really well and is still eating better then he used to we were
very disappointed to find out he has not gained any weight in the past
two months ... leaves us a bit perplexed ... but I told myself I would
not concern myself with that unless he went another month without any
gain ... so I'm not worrying (haha). He looks healthy and still has
his big fat chubby legs ... so I really have no reason to worry.

Rebecca is a completely different struggle and we have given up on
fructose being her problem. She has a pretty relaxed diet right now
and it doesn't seem to make her any worse. It's always in the back of
our mind that we could be causing some of her problems by not being
stricter ... but we've done the strict thing without any improvement
so it seems ridiculous to keep at it when it's only stressing her out
b/c she has to be so cautions and is different then everyone else.
Since we now think stress/emotions are a big problem we don't want to
cause anymore stress then necessary. We are all enjoying the relaxed
diet. I still watch what i give her, but it seems really easy now
after the really strict diet. I guess it shows how we slowly adapt to
things. When she goes elsewhere I have to tell people the main things
to avoid and then I realize there are still a list of restrictions,
I'm just so used to it I don't even really think about it. We are
currently working our way through the system to get her into
counselling (this would be covered by the gov't and specialized for
kids ... versus paying someone ourselves) to see how much this is a
factor. I also managed to get her June GI consultation bumped up to
January ... although I'm starting to wonder how much of this is really
GI ... but at the same time want to make sure we've ruled out all GI
possibilities.

Anyways ... for nothing changed I sure babble enough.
Hope you're enjoying your summer down under ... it's been very cold
here (-15 most of the time lately) and we have had steady snow. There
is some joy to white winters and I do like them ... but not when this
cold ... and I'm starting to think I'm ready for spring ... which is
still a very long ways away :( So enjoy the warm weather for me!!

Steph

[Jo-Anne]

Hi Steph,

Sorry it has taken awhile for me to respond, currently on holidays in
Perth. Chloe did test positive to fructose, so there is no fruit in
her diet now besides a firm banana once a day (that's her tolerance)

Sorry to hear that Matthew is getting earaches, there not much fun.
Chloe is so much better now that she has had tubes in her ears. Its a
fairly minor procedure, I've had it done 3 times myself, chloe's are
still in, so we will see when they fall out if she needs them again.
Ethan had a lot of ear aches when he was younger, before he was
diagnosed with fructose mal we kept taking him back to the doctors to
check his ears as he was playing up (upset all the time/in pain etc)
the doctors thought it was just a stage - terrible twos but it finally
came to a head when he started puking on top of the gassiness, night
waking, distended tummy, failing to gain weight & not wanting to eat.

Its nice that Rebecca has a relaxed diet, I hope the counseling helps,
help her to find ways of dealing with the stress etc.

Good luck with the GI appointment, it does give you peace of mind to
rule out everything.

Kind regards,

Jo-Anne